1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved nozzle for an apparatus for denaturing food products, and more particularly to such a nozzle through which a food product not intended for human consumption is discharged for packaging and, during such discharge, is injected with a denaturing agent consisting of an edible dye which forms a streak of the dye along the product during such discharge. The streak of dye marks the product by color so that the product cannot subsequently be confused with food for humans.
In the killing; skinning; scalding; scaling; defeathering; processing; eviscerating; cleaning; packaging; storing; and marketing of animals, poultry, and fish, the flesh thereof frequently becomes damaged so as to be unfit for human consumption. Further, many pre-slaughtering injuries can render the flesh unfit for human consumption as can death caused by other than slaughter. Such unfit flesh nevertheless has other uses and, because of the extremely voluminous production rates in the meat, poultry and fish industries, the unfit flesh is present in very large quantities and of quite appreciable value when it can be properly diverted to other uses.
Since such unfit flesh frequently cannot be visually distinguished from flesh fit for human consumption, intricate regulations have been established requiring conspicuous marking of the unfit flesh so it can be channeled into animal food or other markets without danger of it being inadvertently consumed by humans. Such marking is known as "denaturing."
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many problems are encountered in endeavoring to denature ground or comminuted flesh. Such comminuted flesh is required not to contain more than four percent by weight of coarsely ground hard bone, in pieces no smaller than the opening size specified for No. 5 mesh in the standards issued by the United States Bureau of Standards, or six percent by weight of coarsely ground hard bone, in pieces no smaller than the opening specified for No. 8 mesh in said standard, and the denaturing agent must be intimately mixed with all of the material to be denatured and applied in such quantity and manner that it cannot easily be removed by washing or soaking and in sufficient amount to give the material a distinctive color, odor or taste. Because of the nature of comminuted flesh, at one time it was necessary to provide denaturing agent to color or otherwise distinctively to mark the entire mass. Although modern equipment for de-boning meat has a demonstrated ability speedily and economically to remove flesh from bones and such flesh has long been known to have a high potential market value, its marketing has been severely restricted or precluded by the requirement that the entire mass be distinctively marked if classified as requiring denaturing. The economic difficulties are aggravated by the fact that certain of the dyes which government regulations allow for marking the flesh by color are expensive, especially when used in the quantity required at the previously mentioned voluminous production rates.
It has been recognized that if the comminuted flesh could be striped or striated with dye the marking requirements could be met with enormous savings in the dye. Further, such marked comminuted flesh would be more conspicuous than uniformly dyed masses thereof. Recognizing these facts, the present applicant developed a method and apparatus that could apply streaks, strips, ribbons, or other striae of dye to comminuted meat in a manner that is economically feasible. The present applicant has applied for United States Letters Patent for this method and apparatus in an application filed Mar. 5, 1976, Ser. No. 664,149, and entitled "Method And Apparatus For Denaturing Food Products Not Intended For Human Consumption", now U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,526.
A problem generally encountered in the application of such dyed streaks or strips is the blending or diffusing of adjacent streaks so that the product is not as distinctively marked as desired. This problem is made worse by the fact that certain of the allowable dyes are water soluble and tend to "run" in a mass of comminuted flesh which contains significant amounts of moisture.
A convenient and economical method of generating a streak of dye is to inject the dye into a stream of comminuted meat product flowing through a conduit for deposition in a mass of the extruded material. The problems with blurring of the streaks are aggravated when the dye is applied exteriorly of the stream due to contact of the extruded stream with adjacent product in the deposited mass. Furthermore, linearity of the streaks is highly desirable to make the streaks stand out in the deposited mass of comminuted flesh. It has been found that such linearity is difficult to attain while extruding the flesh, since the stream tends to rotate as it is extruded in an undesirable mixing or stirring action. This problem is most difficult when a strip or streak is applied exteriorly of the stream where the rotational movement is likely to be greatest and when contact with adjacent flesh in the deposited mass is most likely.